


Without fear

by Birooksun



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Group Therapy, Human Experimentation, fear toxin exposure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 15:10:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11877135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birooksun/pseuds/Birooksun
Summary: Edward found the perfect gift for Jonathan, he discovered someone who had been experimented on before but came out the otherside with no emotions at all





	Without fear

Jonathan Crane sighed and scratched at his fake beard, wondering why he followed Edward on his need for some fried food. He looked around, the excuse of a restaurant was too brightly lit, the cashier inexperienced and constantly turning to ask questions, and if he heard her go "Umm.." one more time he was going to just fear gas the whole place Edward be damned, he could fend for himself.

  
"Jonathan do you know what you want? We're next in line." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again. How he was friends with his man he never knew. The girl at the register turned back to ask questions again and he found himself more aggravated as the cook sighed and gave up, rolling off her gloves and quickly barking orders to the other workers.

  
"Take 5. You're off your game tonight and we need to get the line moving." Jonathan and Edward had to look down, this woman was tiny compared to her worker who actually would have to look down to meet their eyes. "Welcome, what can I help you with today?" Edward rattled off his long order and then they both looked at Jonathan.

  
He gave a sigh and glanced over the large board. "Do you have anything not deep-fried and covered in grease?"

  
She gave a small smile and pulled a telescoping stick out of a clip on her apron, extended it and tapped several items on the board. "Gluten free, vegetarian, and we even have an all natural meat option. If you have a specific request I can try to grant it." She gave another small smile that never reached her eyes before rolling one shoulder back and giving a twitch.

  
They ordered and Edward paid without any issues, then went to sit down. They picked a seat where Jonathan could see the kitchen through the windows reflections and Edward could look straight into the kitchen. It wasn't until a few minutes into their wait Edward commented on the workers. "That boss is injured. Probably old injuries, but she favors her shoulder and keeps her back very stiff."

  
"How interesting." Jonathan snarked back. "Did you just want to observe the workers or something?"

  
"I've been here before, and aside from the food I think one of the workers would catch your eye for a possible subject." Edward nodded his head and sat back as the manager with the bad shoulder walked over to them with two trays. He flicked a finger to point at her arms and Jonathan got a look at the pale scars standing out from the dark skin, and once she reached over to pick up their table number he could see the tremors in her hands.

  
"I hope you two enjoy your meal." She said with another false smile and walked away.

  
"Alright, so she's a former self-mutilator and has tremors. What of it?"

  
"She's apparently been introduced to your toxin before." Jonathan's eyes narrowed as he took a closer look at her.

  
"Bystander or injected?"

  
Edward gave a cheshire like grin over his hands, "You could find out easily."

  
Jonathan gave a grunt and started to eat his food. Edward joined him and for a few moments they ate in silence. There was a scream that caused them both to turn and look at the counter where it came from. A large man was pointing a gun in the face of the cashier. They watched as the woman who seemed to work every station calmly walked up and pushed the cashier to hide under the counter.

  
"Em, stay down there. Call the police." She placed a hand on the cashier's head and faced down the barrel of the gun. "Now, you have a few options. One- put the gun down, walk away, I forget this whole thing ever happened. Two- You continue to try and rob us and I smash your face in. Three- you man up and pull the fucking trigger." She moved her hands onto the counter and stood tall with her shoulders back. "Now what's it going to be?"

  
The man seemed confused and faltered a bit, "What? I'm robbing you! You're supposed to be scared and hand over the money!" He started to wave the gun around and pointed it at another worker who quickly put their hands up, taking the aim and his eyes off the small woman.

  
"Option 2 then." She reached out and grabbed the man's elbow, slammed it onto the counter and twisted his arm and wrist back, making him shout out in pain and drop the gun. He started to turn towards her and she grabbed a fistful of hair with her other hand and slammed his face into the counter, lifted it and slammed again.

  
The worker who had the gun pointed at him put his hands down and looked over at his boss. "Ma'am? You can be scary at times."

  
She kept the would-be robber in place and looked over to give a smile at her worker. "Hun. I hope this is the scariest thing you have to witness, because this is nothin'. Especially for Gotham. I'm your boss, it's my job to make sure all of you are safe at work. This man's just an idiot who picked the wrong woman to try and scare." She turned to look out the front windows and saw the flashing police lights and an ambulance. "Oh the idiot's not that hurt." The cashier still sitting under the counter must have spoken. "Oh, you told them he had a gun, right. They want to be prepared for any gunshot wounds."

  
Jonathan tucked his chin into his chest and Edward slouched in his seat as they watched the police enter the building. The officers never even looked at the customers, just went straight to the manager, still holding the man's head against the counter.

  
"Evening Officers. I trust I can let go of this idiot and hope you teach him a great lesson?" The man struggled a bit but she made a small movement and he gave a squeal of pain.

  
"Sam, you _know_ you're not supposed to use excess force on a robber." One of the officers sighed as they took the man away.

  
"That was not excessive. I'd need to bring out the bleach and mop if I used excessive force. Also he pointed a gun at two of my workers. So he may have slipped and hit his head twice. Purely an accident. The painfully short elbow throw that is probably killing his arm and back though? That was intentional and to get the gun out of his grasp." She looked around the store and her eyes narrowed on the two rogues. "Come back tomorrow and I'll have the video from tonight for you."

  
She then turned and left for the back before coming back with a coat and purse on. "Trisha, you're live on drive, Kai's on line, Em's sticking to the front. You know the drill by now."   
One of the workers who had been in the drivethru corner the whole time nodded and leaned in to speak with Sam. Neither Jonathan or Edward could hear what was said, but they followed the woman with their eyes as she left through a side door.

  
After she had walked down the street they got up and followed her. "You say she's from one of my early experiments?" Jonathan looked over at Edward as they blended into the shadows behind her.   
"Yes Jonathan, I don't know which of your experiments she was, but I did find something else you'll love." He gave a grin up at his friend who just raised an eyebrow at him in response. "She's going to a support group right now that consists of people you've given your toxin to."

  
"A chance to see the long term effects of my surviving experiments. What a wonderful gift you've given me Edward."

  
They continued to follow the woman until she walked up to a building bearing a falling off sign saying 'Community Center'. She walked in, and a moment later was walking right back out to one of the cars and knocked on the window before opening the door and pulling a woman out of the car. She half carried the terrified woman into the building before repeating the process with two other cars and a man and woman. They followed her in the building and watched her walk into a room with the last person she had grabbed. Edward adjusted his blonde wig and looked at Jonathan. "I've got a tape recorder, you _might_ be recognized even with that beard. Or should I just use my recording glasses?"

  
"The glasses, if I cannot be there I want to see their physical reactions."

  
"Well then Jonathan. I suppose there will be one new member today." Edward pulled a glasses case out of his pocket and replaced his current frames with a rounder pair before clicking a small button near his ear. He then walked in after Sam and sat down at one of the chairs in a circle. He look around the circle, taking in the counselor sitting there with her clipboard, one man twitching and looking around; a woman next to him rocking back and forth, an older man with graying hair just staring at the ground. A young man, barely even old enough to count as an adult with his head in his knees and his hands in his hair, rubbing his back next to him was Sam, sitting there with her head up high and looking around the room. A few more people were there, one or two relatively calm but not one with the stone cold expression Sam held.

  
"Well everyone! It appears we have a new person with us today, so why don't we all introduce ourselves to-" The counselor directed her hand towards Edward.

  
"Arthur." He replied with a nod of his head.

  
"Arthur! Well let's go around and introduce ourselves, talk a little about our week and remember everyone; this is a safe place. There are no judgements here and we all respect each other okay?" She gave a very warm smile around the circle and it seemed to calm a few of them. The twitching man and Sam sat on either side of her. "Who would like to go first?" He watched Sam lean down and whisper in the young man's ear, he gave a nod and she sat up.

  
"I will. My name's Samantha, call me Sam. It's just easier. As most of you know I'm still dealing with my side affects of being an essential lab rat. This week in my quest to feel something I tried some free climbing and felt nothing as I stood on top of Wayne Tower. Got some good pictures though, so something good came out of that. There was another attempted robbery at the store again today. I looked down the barrel of the gun and told him to pull the trigger." She paused and looked down at her hands. "I don't know if that was me knowing it would throw him off balance mentally or if I'm so desperate to feel I'm contemplating suicide." She turned and looked at the man next to her. "Take your time hun, don't forget to breathe."

  
The man sat up finally and Edward could see his wide eyes and pinched skin. "Daniel. This... this week I managed to go to the grocery store on my own. I still can't go outside in the dark, in fact I have to thank Sam for coaxing me out of my car." He gave a shaky smile to her, she just nodded her head. "I just keep feeling everyone's eyes on me even when I'm alone. I still have to have a light on, not every light anymore just so I know that I'm actually alone at home." Edward looked around and noticed how everyone else made a point not to look directly at Daniel.

  
The woman next to him spoke. "Maureen, I was able to eat two meals a day this week. I'm still working on the hallucinations, but my medications are helping with that."

  
She didn't say anymore so the man slouching next to her spoke up. "10 days sober now. I **want** to crawl back into a bottle to get away from it all, but I won't let that _Scarecrow_ win. That's what I keep telling myself. I have to shove past the nightmares and daily triggers and every time I want to drink but don't, I'm winning." He looked over at Edward, "Oh yeah. Names Clint."

  
Edward was next in the circle. "My name's Arthur, and I heard about this support group. Since Scarecrow injected me during my security job I-" he paused to give a dramatic pause, "I keep seeing my father and hearing his words about being a _failure_." He took a hitched breath and looked down at his hands before glancing up, "At nights I can even feel his hands hitting me again. I try to tell myself it's all fake, but how can the past be fake?"

  
The counselor leaned towards him, "It's good that you tell yourself it's not real. That's the first step to getting past the hallucinations."

  
The graying man was next, "Robert, I've gotten to a point where I don't look for a way to kill myself anymore, but day to day living is still a struggle. I'm blessed that my daughter is taking care of me. She just tells me it's return for the 18 years I raised her. She drove me here again. She's parked under a streetlight reading and every week I fear something will happen to her out there, but she's a smart girl and keeps up on her judo, carries a can of mace, even has a knife hidden on her at all times." He gave a dry laugh. "The more I try to get over my fears that came to surface, the more I end up fearing for her safety, I don't even know what I'm doing anymore."

  
The rocking woman looked up realizing it was her turn. "Eve. I went for a walk today. Didn't freak out. There's more people this week. I didn't _plan_ on that. I didn't _plan_ on seeing people walking along the street when I got up here. It's **always** empty. Sam had to drag me in here. _Knows I_. Knows I- I can't function right if. If things _change_. Change still freaks me out. I can handle it. This is handling it. Just gotta **_toughen_ ** up, you can't get hurt if you're well armoured." She hadn't stopped rocking the entire time and kept closing her eyes to focus on her words.

  
The twitching man snapped his head to Edward. "Jake. Still not sober. I can't seem to find a drug to help me escape from it. **Never** trying acid again though. The trip was like being gassed again. Once was enough for me." He shook his head and looked at Sam. "You still scare me with that stone cold calm you have. It just screams _unnatural_ to me and there are moments where your voice makes me think of him. That accent you use when you try to sound kind, that flat tone. It's like a doctor cutting someone open. You're too detached from everything. It makes me think of Scarecrow."

  
Sam spoke up when he finished. "I think he'd show interest though. I recall him sounding almost gleeful when he spoke of his experiments." She looked out towards the door. "If I could fear I'd feel it now. I could have sworn I heard his voice today, but it must have been my mind getting away from me. I was one of his students after all, could have just been an unwanted memory."

  
The counselor spoke and Edward started to tune her out as she talked about meditation and led them through breathing exercises before turning on a cd player and them all closing their eyes to meditate. He instead looked around at each of them, making sure to capture how all of them acted, the faces of those he thought Jon would show the most interest in.

  
The meeting ended and the counselor stood up and shook hands with everyone who attended, thanking them for their courage. Sam stood up after the counselor was finished. "Alright guys, who needs an escort to their car?" Edward could see a few of them sag in relief and one by one they stood up and Sam escorted them to their cars, reminding them to be safe and brave. Soon the counselor left and Edward was hanging out in the hallway waiting for Samantha to walk back in. He hid a grin thinking how she'd make a good subject for Crane, he would love trying to break her and hear her screams of terror.

  
"Arthur, did you need an escort as well?" She walked up to him, not knowing what would happen and the horrors before her. He looked around, seeing they were alone aside from Jonathan hiding in another room. He gave a wide grin and pulled the blonde wig off his head.

  
"Riddle me this Samantha! I'm as small as an ant, as big as a whale. I'll approach like a breeze, but can come like a gale. By some I get hit, but all have shown fear. I'll dance to the music, though I can't hear. Of names I have many, of names I have one. I'm as slow as a snail, but from me you can't run. _What am I?_ " He stalked towards her, she kept stepping around him so she wouldn't be in a corner or trapped against the wall.

  
"A shadow? Am I supposed to be afraid of that? You're thinking of the wrong person." She was so preoccupied with The Riddler she never noticed the door slowly opening and Scarecrow sneak up on her. 

  
"No, but you should **_fear_ ** me." He rasped before shoving her against a wall and holding a cloth to her mouth. She started to struggle and almost shoved him off her, Riddler rushed over to her and helped pin her as well until she passed out. He held the cloth against her face a moment longer and dropped it. Lifting her and walking out the door with a manic grin, Riddler followed out of curiousity, walking with him until they reached his hideout. Riddler opened the door with a bow and Scarecrow walked in, not even noticing him. He followed as they walked down a staircase into a basement. There was a man already strapped to one chair screaming and struggling, and he could see what looked like metal doors to a deeper part of the cellar. Scarecrow walked over to an empty dentist chair and dropped Samantha in it, strapping her arms, ankles, and even her neck. 

  
"She should awaken in a few hours. In the meantime, I'm going to make sure my guest is well taken care of." He glided over to the screaming man, pulling out a stethoscope and hearing his heartbeat, "Oh wonderful. So much in his head is terrifying him." He gave a grin that seemed to wide for his face. "Let's up his dose and see if we can induce a heart attack just from fear."

  
Riddler gave a frown, "Didn't you do that once already?"

  
"That was by accident. I want to see if I can repeat it and actually record the results this time."

  
Edward walked back over to Samantha, looking over her and noticing how even unconscious she still had twitches. He reached for her hair and pulled it out of the bun it had been in, it almost flowed over his hand. He looked over her face, completely slack, he noticed her arms kept twitching. Was she reliving something? " _Jonathan_? Should she be able to move at all?" He heard footsteps and could almost feel Jonathan's breath on his neck as he watched her arms twitch as well. Jonathan lifted an eyelid and ran a penlight over her eye. Her head twitched to the side.

  
"She shouldn't be coming to this soon." Edward bit back a smile as he heard the surprised tone in Jonathan's voice.

  
She gave a groan and looked at him with tired brown eyes. "That's word for word what you said the third time your toxin caused me to pass out." She looked at Edward. "So what's the man with the riddles and puzzles doing here watching the master of fear experiment on people?" He opened his mouth to respond but she cut him off with a dry chuckle. "Wait wait wait. You gave me over to him as a gift right? She looked over at Jonathan, "It's supposed to be funny right? I'm supposed to laugh at this. Or should I be screaming? Perhaps yelling? You did ruin my life with those experiments." She gave a sigh and took a moment to test the restraints. "You don't remember me do you? I was one of many and declared a 'failure' after I stopped reacting. I think you tested me six times?"

  
"You're that girl. I thought you died. You attempted suicide and had to drop out because of the stress." His fingers traced a pale scar on her arm.

  
"You have cold hands Dr. Crane, but yes I tried to kill myself. I did not drop out because of stress though. I was kicked out of my program because my hands shook too much to properly wire anything. I was in my final year. I stopped being able to feel anythings and noticed my hands shaking. I couldn't even feel the panic at realizing I was burning myself more often than I was actually soldering the wires in place. So go ahead. Inject me with your latest version of that damn drug and observe how the failure reacts to it."

  
He released her arm and paced back and forth while Edward watched them both. "I _remember_. You would pass out after every injection and come to screaming. It was less and less towards the end, but by then I had moved towards making it into a gas and testing on groups." He paused and looked towards the woman. "You never spoke of what you saw."

  
"The abyss stared back at me and swallowed my soul. I saw Lovecraftian horrors I could not even put into words. I felt myself taken apart and put back together, I was nothing and everything at once and there were things humans were not meant to see or feel and I saw so much."

  
"Existential terrors? I don't think I had believe those possible for my toxin to produce back then."

  
"I don't think you tested on a genius who never did anything but read horror novels as a child."

Edward left the two of them to continue talking, knowing that eventually Jonathan would use her as a test subject once again. He gave a small shudder as he heard her fake laugh again while the door shut behind him.

  
The a few mornings later he opened the newspaper and saw a picture of her in the headlines. "Samantha Simmons, noted small time hero found dead in alleyway. Suspected Scarecrow victim." He read testimonies of all the times she stepped in and saved someone, the times she stood up in a robbery and fought the robbers until police arrived. A few officers had even spoken of how she was reckless with herself and spoke of doing things just to feel something." The reporter wrote how Samantha's body had a smile on it, so perhaps Scarecrow did make her feel something.

  
Jonathan was at his door with the paper. "I suppose you came over to boast over your latest experiment?" Edward asked as he poured a second cup of coffee.

  
"As well as answer the question I know you will want to ask." At Edward's raised eyebrow he tapped the paper. "Why was she smiling? Well, I used a concentrated version and after the 3rd dose she finally had a reaction. She screamed so wonderfully, she was so terrified, she fought the restraints and sobbed towards the end. Then everything slowed down for her. She stopped screaming, she stopped struggling and she turned to me. It was odd but she gave a smile and said just a few short words before she died."

  
"Spit it out, what did she say?"

  
"I felt fear. Thank you." The two men sat down in silence, drinking their coffees while Edward reached out and placed his hand over Jonathans.

**Author's Note:**

> This entered my head and wouldn't leave me alone. Sorry if the ending feels forced, I couldn't make this into a series a nor could I figure out how to end it.


End file.
